Humble Beginnings
by Kate McCaye
Summary: Just a little ditty about Jack and Sam. I find the GDOs, among many other things about the pilot episode, very humorous. And nobody can convince me Jack wasn't the one who came up with that name. Takes place during the pilot.


A/N: I do believe this is my shortest story ever. As with all pilot episodes, I thought the characters were all kind of blah, so I tried to be sort of in between how they acted in the pilot and how we know them now.

Humble Beginnings.

Newly re-instated Colonel Jack O'Neill was walking down one of the many gray halls of the SGC, wondering where Dr. Jackson had ended up. Hopefully taking a shower, Jack thought to himself. It had been a good idea to take Daniel home with him, but they had both been eager to get back to the base early in the morning and check on Feretti. Hopefully once he regained consciousness, they would be able to go find Skaara and Sha're.

Jack's musings on his Abydonian friends and the archaeologist were interrupted by a loud voice saying heatedly, "No, dammit, what did I tell you about the circuits?!" He hadn't known her long, but he had a sickening feeling he'd be able to pick her voice out of a crowd of a hundred. He was trying very hard not to, but after the way she had openly challenged him in front of a room full of her superior officers, combined with her childlike reaction to her first trip through the Stargate, he was fascinated by Captain Carter.

He winced as he headed towards the sound of the yelling. It was coming from one of the labs. He peeked inside. Captain Carter and a technician were working on something technical at a large cluttered table. She was peering through a giant lit magnifying glass and working with something very tiny.

"Captain Carter? There a problem?" he asked. The poor technician looked near tears.

"No sir," she said quickly with an impatient smile in his direction. "Just trying to get this done as soon as possible so we're ready when Feretti wakes up, sir."

"I appreciate that, Captain, but it's five in the morning..."

"It is?!" she asked, gaping at him.

"Yes, Captain, it is," he said.

The technician seemed to be trying to use him as a distraction to sneak off. He had nearly made it to the door when Carter, without looking up from her project, snapped, "We're not done yet, doctor!" The man reluctantly slunk back over to his little station while Jack watched in amusement.

"The briefing is in an hour and I need ten minutes to change into my dress uniform, so after that you'll have to finish the transmitters by yourself."

"Yes, ma'am," the lab guy said meekly.

"Have you been here all night?" Jack asked suddenly, leaning forward on the table across from her with his elbows.

"Yes, sir," she said, now seemingly focused back on whatever it was she was building. He leaned in and tried to get a closer look at it.

"So... what exactly are you making here, Captain?"

"It's a transmitter," she said. He wondered if he was distracting her when she was obviously in a hurry, but apparently she was pretty good at multitasking, because she continued her explanation. "Basically it will transmit a signal through an open wormhole back here to the SGC that will identify whoever has it so that the new iris can be opened and whoever is on the other side can return safely..."

"So it's like a garage door opener?" he asked.

She glanced up at him and smiled before returning to her work. "I guess in a way... this is just a quick rough version, and we're making two just in case, but given more time, I can make them much more compact and secure."

"Secure?"

"The codes, sir. This is going to be a very primitive model of what I would ideally choose to do, but there's not a lot of time for something more complex..."

"I see. Well, good work, Captain. I'll get out of your way. Try not to kill your little helper," he added, nodding in the technician's direction.

She laughed and said, "Yes, sir. See you at the briefing."

"Looking forward to it," he called over his shoulder as he left.

As he was halfway down the hall he heard a slight zapping noise, followed by Captain Carter's loud voice scolding, "What the hell is wrong with you, use your gloves for Pete's sakes!"

Smiling and shaking his head, he almost collided with Dr. Jackson, who was walking down the hall just as distractedly as he had been. "Sorry, Jack," he fumbled, adjusting his glasses.

"No no. My fault, Daniel. You okay?"

"Yeah... what about you? You look... strange..."

Another cry filtered down the hall. "DAMMIT WHAT DID I JUST SAY?!" Jack looked at Daniel seriously, putting a hand on each of the man's shoulders.

"Daniel. I think I'm in big trouble," he said evenly.

"Captain Carter seems... enthusiastic," Daniel said, also recognizing the lovely screaming they had both heard.

"Oh yeah," Jack agreed, glancing down the hall as though scared she might have overheard them.

"She's adorable, in a... scary kind of way," Daniel continued. Jack wished he would shut up. "But I think she should have another psychological screening."

"Why?" Jack asked in surprise. Okay she was a little tense, but she didn't seem crazy.

"She thinks you're funny," he said simply. Jack looked at him for a few seconds, trying to figure out if Daniel was just messing with him, but he had the look of a man who was too tired and thinking about too many important things to be anything other than brutally honest at the moment. Jack patted his cheek and headed off to get changed for the briefing.

-----------------------------------

He was getting ready for their trip to Feretti's coordinates in the gear-up room when Captain Carter practically bounced over to him, already completely dressed and geared up for the mission.

"Sir, here's your GDO," she said, holding out the device she had finished.

He pushed up his sleeve absently and held out his arm for her to Velcro it on as he started slipping grenades into his vest pockets with his other hand.

"Each team leader has one, sir," she was saying as she secured it around his forearm.

"Right," he said, finally looking down at it. "Captain, that's going to make fighting a little awkward."

"I'm sorry, sir, there wasn't time to make it any smaller..."

"No, it's not that, but... why don't you wear it?"

"Sir?"

"You don't know me very well yet, Captain, I have a tendency to break things like this anyway. You built it. You wear it." He ripped it off of his arm and handed it back to her.

"Yes, sir."

She set down her gun and started putting it on herself. He turned to head to the embarkation room and stopped, turning back around. "GDO?" he asked with a smile.

She grinned back at him. "It was a good name, sir."

He smiled back and hurried out of the room. Stopping in the hallway, he leaned forward, lightly banging his forehead on the wall. "I'm going to be completely grey in ten years," he wailed dramatically.


End file.
